Disclaimer: I have not watched any of the Uma Musume series besides RTTT and this movie nor have I played the gacha game before.SynopsisUma Musume: Pretty Derby BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA henceforth referred to as NEW ERA is about the story of Jungle Pocket and her journey as an Uma Musume. Along with her rivals Agnes Tachyon Dantsu Flame and Manhattan Cafe she takes on the Japanese Classic Races. Her rivalry with Agnes is particularly strong with Agnes being seemingly unbeatable. Throughout the movie we get to see how Jungle Pocket and her rivalries evolve along with her ups and downs as she struggles to find her path as an Uma Musume.Overall ThoughtsNEW ERA was the surprise of the year for me. I had watched the prequel ROAD TO THE TOPhttps://anilist.co/anime/148370/ RTTT about a year before and enjoyed it very much. The animation was spectacular and it made me look forward to what else CygamesPictures had in stock. So when I went to watch NEW ERA I was expecting something along the lines of RTTT but instead I was treated to an absolute masterpiece that blew my expectations out of the water. It was so good that I went to watch it again immediately the next day and continued to watch it a total of 12 times while it was in theaters. The impeccable quality of animation paired with fantastic sound design and a breathtaking OST made watching the movie an unforgettable experience. It has undoubtedly become one of my favorite works of all time and is something that I would highly recommend regardless of whether youre an Uma Musume fan or not. I believe its viable as a standalone work with no prior knowledge of Uma Musume even RTTTalthough I would still recommend watching RTTT since it is also great and relatively short. NotesThe Japanese Classic Races consists of the Satsuki Sho Japan Derby and Kikka Sho which are races restricted to threeyearold horses. This means that racehorses only have one chance to compete in these races which is part of the reason why these races are so important to Uma Musume. With regards to the story RTTT isnt really considered as the prequel to NEW ERA since they focus on different characters and theres no direct relation between the stories. But in terms of the real life timeline RTTT takes place during the race season of 1999 while NEW ERA starts in 2000 and focuses on the 2001 races. Review will be updated with more details after I rewatch the movie again.